


The Next Step to Normalcy

by DarkHell616



Series: Broken Goods [10]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Adoption, Autism Spectrum, Children, Chubby Reader, Cute, Dad Spencer, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Happy Ending, Happy Spencer Reid, Minor time jump, Period issues, Romance, Talk of Period, autistic child, pcos, plus sized reader, tics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:00:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29645439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkHell616/pseuds/DarkHell616
Summary: Nearly two years have passed since Spencer's proposal and life continues on, now with a new addition to the Reid family.
Relationships: Spencer Reid/Reader
Series: Broken Goods [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1418539
Kudos: 5





	The Next Step to Normalcy

“Spencer!” I yelled up the stairs, drying off my hands on the tea towel. “Are you both ready yet?”

“Almost!”

I smiled and shook my head, walking back to the kitchen.

On my way, I habitually looked to the mantelpiece at the wedding photo taken a year and a half prior, noting again that Penelope had done a marvelous job with my hair and makeup, even I looked passable in the Halloween inspired get-up.

Next to that picture was our first picture with Nicholas, a two-year-old with dark brown waves and shining blue eyes, taken on the day that we had picked him up to bring him home.

The adoption process had taken up a collective ten months, which we could have timed better giving that we were looking into the process and fees while also preparing for a wedding but it had all been worth it in the end.

He’d been living with us for five months and things were going swimmingly.

Spencer had immediately taken to the role of dad and doted on the boy, he’d been eager to spend weekends shopping for what we’d need months in advance before we had even been approved.

He had taken to Nicholas nearly immediately upon setting eyes on him, as we attended the Adoption Activity Day taking place after our home study had been accepted, he had been sat in a play area, plunking away at a toy piano like he was a mini Beethoven.

Although we kept ourselves open during the day and kept our minds open, Spencer’s heart seemed pretty set on Nicholas and after a couple of days of deliberating we contacted our caseworker to put in an inquiry about him.

The wait for a response was excruciating and every ping of a phone or new email turned us into anxious messes.

We hadn’t been this nervous since the home study, even though we both knew that there was nothing to be too anxious about.

Sure, there were perhaps some things that could pose a minor issue like Spencer’s hectic work schedule and the nature of his job, but we were candid with everything on the agency profile and managed to pass, which lead to better nights of sleep.

As we waited, we would receive little packets of information about Nicholas, which was when we learned that he was suspected of being on the mild spectrum of autism and thus we had to discuss between ourselves and with the care worker if we still wished to progress forward with the adoption should we be picked.

Luckily, we could afford for me to leave my barely there shifts at work to focus on being a fulltime carer if needs must. 

We thought for sure that our chances were squandered after the conversation and went back to sleepless nights of fretting and overthinking.

The afternoon we received the phone call to say that our report had gone through was one of the best days of our lives, many tears were shed and many tight hugs were given.

We’d been accepted.

We were going to adopt an adorable boy into the Reid family if we still wished to proceed.

The period between starting the one on one meetings with Nicholas and having him finally move in with us flew by and before we knew it, we had the tiny plinks of a plastic piano filling our days.

“You’re going to be late!” I yelled from the kitchen just as thunders of footsteps came downstairs.

“Sorry,” Spencer said, sounding out of breath and holding a grinning Nicholas in his arms, “I couldn’t find his other shoe and by the time I had he’d taken one of his socks off, so that was another battle.”

I laughed and pressed a kiss to each of their cheeks, “A little troublemaker already.”

“He must get that from you.”

I rolled my eyes and gave him a little glare before turning my attention to Nicholas.

“You ready for your first swimming lesson?”

He looked at me and gave a content ‘mmm’, pulling his lips in before he nodded, rocking on his perch on his dad’s arm as his nose twitched and eyes squinted, minor tics that we had been told could get more drastic when he was excited or nervous.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Spencer asked, looking at me with a concerned frown.

“Of course, I’m sure it’s nothing,” I smiled, pressing another kiss to his lips, “it’s just a general check-up, they’ll probably just give me some tablets to get things in motion and then I can join you both for the next lesson.”

“Unless your tablets work.”

“Unless that,” I nodded, snatching up the bobble hat that I’d put aside on the kitchen counter, “it’s cold out, so he may need this.”

“Good thinking, especially if we go to the park after.”

“Oh,” I smiled at the two, “a real daddy-son day.”

“Yes,” he grinned, “I was thinking of getting us some ice cream as a treat for doing well with his speech therapy this week.”

“That’ll be nice, no time is a bad time for ice cream.”

I carefully reached up and placed the hat on Nicholas’ head, who then reached up and patted it as per his habit before smiling and going back to his merry rocking.

“I should be done by then,” I said, grinning at Nich then at Spencer, “I can meet you when you’re done with the ice cream and we can go shopping together.”

“Sure, we can wait for you.”

“Great, I’ll send you a message when I get out of the doctors.”

“We’ll try to not have too much fun without you.”

“Appreciated.”

Spencer grabbed a backpack of swimming gear that he’d prepared that morning before breakfast and slung it over his free shoulder, then he leaned in to give me a quick kiss.

“We’ll see you later.”

“You bet,” I smiled at him then waved to Nicholas, opening and closing my fingers, “bye, sweetie, I’ll see you later.”

He looked at me with his adorable eyes and mimicked my wave as best as he could.

After the farewells, Spencer spun around and headed to the front door, speaking enthusiastically to Nich the entire way.

I waited to hear the door close before turning back to the washing up I had been doing, finishing off the last little bit before pulling the plug and watching as the water drained.

As I watched it disappear and heard the gurgle of the pipes, I let out a long sigh.

How I’d much rather be going swimming with them than going to see yet another doctor, though if it meant getting my system working and jogging my periods again then it was all worth it.

Hopefully they’d just give me the kickstarting tablets I’d only had to use twice before without taking bloods and other extensive checks, the previous doctor had said that if I missed two or three months then she’d simply prescribe them again but it had been years.

I’d had an extended wait here or there, but every time it got close to the third month of no period and I’d settled on having to call the doctor it’d start randomly again, as if my body were mocking me.

Looking to the clock, I let out another sigh and snatched up my handbag, the same one I’d been using when I first met Spencer in the waiting room those few years ago, then headed to the front door, key in hand ready to lock up and walk the five minutes to my appointment.

“Another day, another doctors visit,” I mumbled to myself, pulling the door closed behind me, “damn PCOS, I just want to bleed normally.”

Sliding the keys into my bag and popping my headphones in, I make my merry way down the street, already anticipating a return with yet more tablets to take but at least this lot would only be for a week, then it’d be right back to the usual schedule.

Nothing unusual about that.

Nothing at all.

**Author's Note:**

> I did my best researching adoption and the methods of it for this fic, I put my best understanding into the writing but I'm sorry if I misconstrued or got anything wrong.  
> Nicholas is also loosely based on my youngest brother who is mildly autistic, can't believe he's turning 21 this year already.
> 
> I guess this is the end to this series, thank you very much for reading.
> 
> If you ever have any requests, please let me know!


End file.
